Forever And Always
by listen-to-the-birdies-sing
Summary: The story is simple; Quil and Claire, best friends forever. Love isn't always easy, not even for Imprints who are meant to be together. Who are soul-mates. So what happens when something's threatening Claire's life? Will Quil be able to back off for the woman he loves? Will Claire even let him? Friendships will be put to the test, relationships formed and lost and one life taken.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE:

"Claire, you're not paying attention, are you?" she sighed.

I snapped my head over to her, tearing my eyes away from the rainy car-park. I couldn't see properly through it, not enough to tell which car was which, but I knew he'd be sitting out there already, waiting for me. "Huh?"

Jasmine rolled her eyes at me, shaking her head furiously. "You don't listen to me anymore."

I gave her a pathetic look. It wasn't her fault my thoughts were so far away. "I'm sorry, Jazz. I just had some things on my mind."

She raised her eyebrows at me. "Some Quil things?"

I frowned at her, and when she smiled, knowing she'd gotten it right, I stuck my tounge out at her. It was annoying how she could tell I was thinking about Quil, but honestly, I was thinking about him all of the time.

"Is he coming to pick you up from school today?" she questioned me.

I shot her my 'What do you think?' look, and she shook her head at me. "You're right, stupid question... Could I just ask you one more question?"

I kept looking at her. "We both know that even if I say no, you're going to ask anyway, Jazz."

She smiled cheekily at me. "How are you and Quil not going out? I mean hugs, and movie nights and you ditch your friends and girl shopping nights to hang out with him, which I don't blame you for, by the way, he is pretty smokin', but not dating him?"

I let a laugh slip from my lips. "Because if we date, and break up, it'll screw up our friendship."

"But who says you guys will break up?" she asked me.

I looked at her, sighing slightly. I had asked myself this question hundreds of times. When I was lying in bed, in my dreams, when I saw his face in the crowd. And even though I could tell Quil everything, I could not tell him my thoughts about this. I didn't want things to get all awkward, not only because he was my very best friend, but because I hated awkward situations.

"Shut up, Jazz." I muttered, putting my paint-brush back up to the paper.

I finished my painting's eyes just before the bell rang for home time, and I stood up, chucking the paint-brush in the sink. The teacher shot me a disapproving look for not washing it, and I smiled politely at her, just wanting to get out to Quil, and the warmth of his arms.

"Pissing off the teachers? Not such a good idea." he muttered as we walked into the school's hallway, getting pushed and shoved violently by the people who were trying to get past. "I mean, they're not very polite, but they do have the power to punish you."

I looked over at Jazz, wondering if this guy was serious. She had a dreamy look on her face, and I looked at her as if she were crazy before I turned back to look at the guy. "Sounds as if you know."

He smiled down at me and instead of smiling back at him, I kept my eyes on what was in front of me so I didn't trip on my face like I normally did. "Yeah, well I've been in three different Art classes in the last month."

"Three?" I raised my eyebrows at him quickly, and then turned back to look at the hall as a girl walked out in front of me, and when I stood on her foot, she gave me a filthy look and stomped away. "And here I was, thinking that this stranger was a pain-in-the-arse. But who knew, he's a trouble making git too!"

"Claire, what are you doing?!" Jazz whispered furiously to me. She thought I was crazy.

Everyone who'd heard me say it to him thought I was crazy, because I'd just said this to Ryan Fletcher. Ryan was the guy that every girl wanted, and every guy wanted to be. He was popular, and hot, and he could do anything he wanted because his family was loaded.

"I'm Ryan." he smiled charmingly at me.

I raised my eyebrows at him. "You don't think I know who you are? I think everyone knows who you are."

"Claire!" Jazz managed to squeal out. "Her name is Claire!"

Ryan looked from me to Jazz, shot her a wink, and then turned back to look at me. "What a lovely name. Does your family like that name?"

"I think that's why Mama called me Claire." I gave him a stupid look.

He blinked. It was obvious that he was confused why his charm wasn't working on me.

We walked towards the doors where I would be taken out to see Quil, and I quickened my pace.

"So, I'm in year twelve." he said coolly.

"And I would care about that, why?" I asked him, looking around the car park.

I saw Quil in his truck, watching us, and I shot him a reassuring smile.

"Well, I would have liked to see your pretty face more. It's a shame that I only met you this year." he said, and he stopped walking as we got to Quil's truck.

"I have a boyfriend!" I blurted out, looking around for Jazz.

I later noticed that she was under a tree, watching the two of us with a love-struck face. The git.

"Who?" he laughed at me. It was obvious he didn't believe my sudden change of character.

I put my finger up to the glass behind me and pointed to Quil. "Him."

"You're lying." he stated. "He's just you're friend. I've heard you talking about him in art."

Crap! "I have to go." I muttered.

I'm pretty sure I stopped breathing for a couple of seconds as I opened my door to Quil's truck and got in, pulling it shut behind me. I wasn't sure whether he was going to try and kiss me, or if he was going to grab me or what.

"Hey, Claire-Bear!" Quil smiled at me as I got in, and put my head on his arm. "How was your day?"

"Drive!" I ordered, looking out the window to see Ryan still standing there. He was a creep, I could just imagine him popping out in the middle of the night from my closet with a smile

on his face, and a cake-mixer in his hands saying 'home abortion' or something creepy like that.

So while he drove out of the school's parking lot, I held on to his arm, and closed my eyes.

"What did you do today?" he asked, when we were a safe while away from the school.

"Art, Art and a little more Art." I muttered, adding under my breath "Unfortunately Mrs G hates me."

He rolled his eyes at me. "I'm sure she doesn't hate you. Who could?"

I wanted to argue with him, but knew I'd never win - when I fought against Quil I instantly felt guilty and ended up just going with whatever he'd said. "What did you do today?"

"Went and got food for the next week, and cleaned up my room for a while."

I sighed. "I don't suppose you cleaned up the lounge room while you were in a cleaning stage, did you?"

She shot me a guilty smile, and I laughed, rolling my eyes. I couldn't stay mad at Quil, no matter how bad the situation. It was like there was a switch inside of me, and when I got angry at him he could turn it to make me smile again. "It's alright, I'll do it when we get back to your house. But you guys have got to start cleaning up after yourselves! Or get more money and get a bloody maid."

Apparently it wasn't a very good situation. Quil, and Seth lived together, well, in seperate rooms. And they were both ridiculously messy. Well Quil wasn't messy, usually. He just couldn't be bothered to clean up after Seth, so he just went with it.

Quil and Seth had been living together for a while. Neither of them had had enough money to live by their selves, and one day Seth said that they should live together or something. I never really listened, just watched Quil.

He pulled up outside my house, which was down a couple of streets from theirs, and smiled at me. "We have to stay here for a while, Seth's got Julia over."

I rolled my eyes. It seemed that everyone was having sex with their Imprint except for me. It would be kind of awkward if me and Quil had sex yet. I wondered if he ever wanted to have sex with me.

I realised, as my cheeks turned red, that I should've stopped thinking about it.

He got out and ran over, pulling my door open for me. He treated me like a princess.

Some people thought it weird, that I wasn't sixteen yet, and yet I spent most nights home all by myself. Yet, none of them were right. Nobody knew, not even his pack-mates, unless he told them when he turned by accident, that Quil snuck in to my bedroom every single night and slept next to me.

Mum had to travel a lot for her work, and she didn't mind leaving me by myself, because I think on most levels she knew Quil was always there, even when he wasn't supposed to be.

Quil had offered for me to move in there, but I didn't think Embry would be as much into the idea as he was, even if Embry was one of my best friends, since he didn't mind being messy, and I wasn't a neat freak, but I didn't live in filth either.

I dumped my shoulder-pack on the lounge-room's table, which was it's neat-self, and put my shoes underneath the table, leaning back on the lounge.

Quil pushed his shoes off, and then fell down to sit next to me, putting his arm around my

shoulder.

His hand moved up to cover mine, and I smiled, holding it tightly. I kissed the side of his jaw, which was where my head went to since he was leaning down and practically folded in half. Quil always smelt like green apples which I loved, and he squeezed my hand.

"Who was that guy who you walked out with?" he asked nonchalantly, slipping it in between changing from Will and Grace to Happy Days.

"Just some arse. His name's Ryan. He's undeniable." I watched the side of his head, even if I couldn't see his eyes from straight on, I knew they rolled. "So, when did you two become friends?"

"We're not friends. We're just- We know each other. I don't even like him, he's a jerk!" I muttered. "I met him this afternoon after he told me it wasn't a good idea to piss the teachers off, and then we just started talking, I guess."

He looked over at me. "He gave you a compliment. You blushed."

"It was stupid." I sighed. "It doesn't matter."

"Now you have to tell me!" he argued, and I frowned.

"He just told me that I was pretty, and he wished he'd met me a couple of years ago so he

could see me more."

He rolled his eyes. "Tell him to get it right; you're bloody beautiful."

"I can't believe that I'm fifteen and three months, and I haven't even had my first kiss." I sighed.

He shot me a smile. "Don't worry, Claire-Bear."

"That's easy for you to say." I argued. "I bet you've kissed one hundred girls!"

He looked down at his hands, and then back to me. "Okay, I'll make you a deal."

I raised my eyebrows at him, and he carried on. "The night of your sixteenth birthday, if you still haven't kissed anyone, I'll kiss you."

I raised my eyebrows. "Kiss or pash?"

He laughed at me. "Pash."

"Fine." I nodded my head. "I can deal with that."

He winked at me, and then we went back to watching the television.

Quil was next to me when I fell to sleep that night, and my eyes slowly drifted, I realised what I'd done. I'd made a deal to kiss my best friend. How wonderful.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO:

"If you jump, I will jump too. We will fall together. From the building's ledge, never looking back-"

"Claire, could please and kindly shut up?!" he called over the music, through the shut door.

I kept jumping up and down on Quil's bed. "No, no I can't!"

"I can't believe you locked the freakin' door so I couldn't come in and turn your stupid music down!" he whined, and I frowned.

"We The Kings is not stupid, douche!" I yelled.

"Shut up!" he yelled back at me once again.

I started to laugh. "It's your fault for agreeing to give me a spare key, Em! You knew I'd be doing this kind of stuff!"

"I knew you'd be doing this, so I didn't want to give you a spare key! Your stupid _other_ best friend did!"

My music finally came to a stop as I got off and pressed 'off' on my piggy iPod player, and walked out into the hall where Embry was standing, his arms folded.

"Speaking of him, when is Quil getting home?" I asked.

He gave me a quick glance up and down, and gave me a disapproving look. "Claire, do you ever wear any clothes?"

"Do you feel uncomfortable with me wearing my underwear around the apartment?" I asked, my eyebrows raised at him.

I already knew that he didn't, I didn't have to wait for his short 'no'.

"When is Quil coming home?" I repeated myself, my arms folding over my chest much like Embry himself did when he was mad.

He looked at his watch and then back to me. "Forty-five minutes."

I stood, watching him for a couple of seconds. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

He raised his eyebrows back at me. "I think I am."

I turned around, smiling at my faithful bed, which never let me down.

I knew Embry was behind me, and I smiled at that too. He was so funny.

So I grabbed my jumper and pulled it over my head, and then ran out back to the lounge room, taking Embry's hand, and pulling him with me.

Quil walked in, nearly exactly an hour later, to find Embry still rocking out on guitar, and me still singing in to the microphone. For some, playing Band Hero at seven o'clock in the evening, with the noise turned up as loud as it could possibly go, wasn't a normal thing to do. For us, it was a Wednesday evening.

Embry wasn't enjoying himself like he usually was while we played Band Hero, instead he was trying to focus as much as he possibly could. I had reason to believe it was because I was kicking his arse, yet again, but he knew he didn't have a hope in hell of beating me. My score was more than 20,000 points higher than his. What a dumb-arse.

While there was a quick break in the song, I smiled over at him. "You're home! She lives in a fairy-tale, somewhere too far for us to find. Forgotten the taste and smell of a world that she's left behind- HEY!"

My laugh began as he brushed his lips down my cheek, making it practically impossible for me to concentrate so that I could sing.

Embry muttered something, grabbed the remote, and paused the game, watching us with un-happy eyes. "How can you two still just be friends? Better yet, how have you two not had sex yet...or even kissed yet?!"

Unlike any other girl who was in that situation, I didn't get nervous or embarrassed by his statement and his words. A lot of people had asked me many times before.

Quil looked from my face, down to Embry. "She's not sixteen yet. And we're not having sex, Embry. We agreed that on her sixteenth birthday, we'd kiss. That's it."

"Is that what you both want?" Embry asked, looking back and forth for both of our faces.

I rolled my eyes at him, and Quil pulled the microphone out of my arms, throwing it down on the lounge. "It doesn't matter if either of us doesn't agree on it - it's not even legal yet! She's still got a couple of months before she's sixteen!"

"Two." I corrected him.

Quil's arms encircled around me, and he pulled me into his chest, holding me tightly.

"So both of you don't want that to be the way it is?" Embry asked. I wasn't sure if he was just trying to pick at a nerve, or if he was trying to get something out of us. Either way, the conversation was starting to get a little bit uncomfortable for me, despite the fact that I hadn't been before.

"Shut up, Embry." I groaned.

"Sixteen." Quil stated again.

"How can you two still have that stupid bloody pact?" Embry muttered.

"It's not stupid, Embry." Quil frowned at him. "It's actually quite reasonable."

Embry stood up, and threw the guitar down on the ground. "You two are idiots. Idiots!"

I raised my eyebrows at Em and stepped out of Quil's arms, walking towards their kitchen.

"Hey, Claire-Bear. Where are your pants?" Quil asked out of the blue and I bent down to look at my bare legs.

"Oh-Em caught me dancing in my underwear." I laughed with embarrassment.

"I thought that you only did that for me!" Quil joked, and I stuck my tongue out at him.

The three of us had a bit of scattered conversation, that lasted for a total of thirty-minutes, and then Embry started whining about how he was hungry, and Quil started talking about me showing his room-mate too much skin, which Embry replied with 'Why? She may be your Imprint, but you guys aren't doing anything, remember?'. Quil wacked him in the back of the head for that.

And the guys un-packed the bags that Quil had brought home for dinner, I went and got a pair of tights on under my white over-sized jumper, that hang off one of my shoulders like some of my favourite clothes did.

Once I'd finished getting dressed, and I did my hair, I walked back out to the kitchen where the two guys were, still un-packing the bags of food and drink with an unbelievably slow pace.

"When are we having dinner?!" Embry groaned a little while later as his stomach made another loud grumbling sound.

Quil laughed at his stomach, and the fact that Embry was so pathetic. I looked down at the bacon-pasta that I was making. "It's ready!"

"Really?!" he asked with excitement. His face had turned about three shades lighter, and he was already licking his lips.

"No!" I said in the same happy tone that his voice had been in. "Not bloody really! Now go and lay in your bed, because it's going to be around ten more minutes, and I can't stand to hear your whinging!"

"What if I fall asleep?" he asked with a smile.

"Then I'll wake you up?" I questioned him.

"How will you wake me up?" he asked, a smile on his face, putting his chin in his hand so he could look at me.

"A knock on the door?" I asked, unsurely.

"I was wishing you'd wake me up another way." he said, winking at me.

I laughed at him, I, personally, thought he was funny, even if he was talking about sex, but Quil made a noise of anger, and soon enough, Embry had walked out of the room, and was going down the hallway.

Quil came up behind me, and took the bottle of sauce that I couldn't open out of my hands.

"I'm sorry that Embry's such a pain."

I laughed as he opened it and then poured it into the pasta. "Quil, I grew up with him. I'm used to it, remember?"

He looked down at his hands like he did when he was nervous, and I folded me arms across my chest, and turned to look at him. "What is it?"

"No...nothing." he murmured, turning around. He walked over to his lounge, and sat down, flicking the channels until he found a re-run of The Simpsons.

I grabbed the pasta and put it on the sink, making sure it wouldn't fall, and so it couldn't get burnt, I walked over to Quil, stood in front of the television, and folded my arms across my chest again. "Quil?"

"It's nothing!" he laughed, trying to push me out of the way with his foot.

I moved towards him, and put my hands on either side of his face. "Now Quil, you are going to tell me what's wrong, or I am going to kill you."

He laughed at me, and pulled me down so I was lying on top of him, his hands going to my sides so he could tickle me.

"Quil...tell me!"

He stopped his hands from my ribs, and pulled me up so I could look at him. "Jus- Does it make you uncomfortable when Embry talks like that?"

I smiled down at him, running my hands up and down his muscly arms. "No, of course it doesn't, Quil. I mean, it makes me a little embarrassed sometimes, but it's alright. And plus, I expect people to ask that kind of stuff. You're my best friend, we hang out all of the time. We do things together that normal best friends don't. I mean, I love you Quil, you're my big brother."

"Is it ready yet?" Embry muttered, popping up out of nowhere.

Quil jumped and let me go, and I fell to the floor, landing on all fours, and probably bruising my knees.

"SHIT!" he yelled, and Embry started laughing so hard that he slid down the wall, rocking himself as he started to cry. What lovely friends.

"Are you looking forward to lunch at Emily's and Sam's?" I asked cheerily.

Quil's eyes were brighter than normal as we walked in the sunlight. He was wearing his black _You Me At Six_ shirt, and we both had our denim shorts on. He was always wearing his denim shorts after he phased, which was actually quite a lot. The difference between us? Quil's denim shorts went down to his knees, while mine went half-way up my thighs. We were both wearing our Converse shoes, though. And we were both wearing band shirts. His You Me At Six shirt was all black with gold writing, while my Tonight Alive shirt was all black with red writing. And his shirt was fitting nicely on him, while my shirt went to my rib-cage.

It was one of the few days of the year where I could actually wear some skanky outfit without freezing my arse off.

"How'd you know?" he asked with sarcasm, shooting a playful smile over at me.

Both of our shoes were in our hands, and the water was coming up, licking my feet with its freezing temperature. "Because you were happy that we were going to get some descent food, despite what I cook for you."

I watched as he went to argue, but I smiled at him again, and then we turned back to watch where we were walking along the beach.

"Why is the water always so cold?!" I whispered with anger.

And why was I walking in the water if it was so cold? Because I wanted Quil to wrap me in his arms and hug me until I died.

As if he could actually read my mind, like Nessie's daddy could, he walked up behind me and pulled me so I was walking in front of him, his arms winding around my waist. "Stop walking in the water, Claire-Bear."

"But I want to!" I pouted.

Quil usually let me do what I wanted when I was with him, accept for when something really bad. Like watching a "stupid" show of movie. Or, all of the _Grey's Anatomy_ that I had. We usually ended up watching all of them anyway, because he loved me in a way, and I loved them.

He picked me up with ease and stepped over so I couldn't touch the water. Not while he was holding me as tightly as he was, anyway. And he put me down so my feet could sink into the sand.

"Now I'm cold and sad!" I murmured, but it wasn't true.

Quil had made me warm and I couldn't be sad when he was near me, it was practically impossible.

"Awww. Poor _wittle_ baby!" he laughed at me.

I pouted once again and pushed him away from ripping me of.

"Don't be made, baby, I was just jo-" he was cut off, mid-sentence.

"CLAIRE! CLAIRE-BEAR!" Nessie's voice boomed through one ear and out the other before I knew what was going on. I turned from looking at Quil to catch her before she tackled me to the ground.

"Nessie!" I said softly from the ground, feeling the light weight of her on top of me.

She pulled me up so she could look at my face, her bright red hair hanging down around my face. "Where have you been, little girl?!"

"Quil!" I murmured. "With Quil!"

Speaking of Quil, Nessie looked over her shoulder and frowned at him. "You? You were the one who took my girl away? Why am I not bloody surprised?!"

"Nessie!" Quil groaned, his face looking strained. "Do we not have to remind you every time you see her that she is human?!"

I gave him a soft smile. "Quil, it's alright."

Nessie slowly stood to her feet and didn't bother to give me her hands. But, thankfully, Quil, being the most amazing guy I'd ever met, grabbed my hands and pulled me to my feet.

Emily and Sam came out to greet us, and Emily kissed both of my cheeks like she normally did.

"How are you, Clairey?" Sam asked, pulling me into a hug. After he'd let me go, he, too, pushed me back and kissed both of my cheeks.

"I'm great, Uncle Sammy. How are you?"

"Starving...as always." Sam winked, and Quil and I walked inside, laughing.

Seth and Embry were sitting next to each other, talking about something that didn't interest me at all.

"Where's Paul?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"With Rebecca." Jacob groaned, pulling Nessie back against him. "They were...doing something and they didn't want to be disturbed."

Again, all of the Imprints were having sex with their Imprints.

Paul was having sex with Rebecca. Jacob was having sex with Nessie. Sam was having sex with Emily. But Claire? Well Claire couldn't have sex with her Imprint. Stupid laws.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE:

"Claire!"

I rolled my eyes. I didn't doubt that he'd been trying to find me, people had told me that he was looking for me all day, and I'd been receiving filthy looks from all of the girls because of it.

Jazz and I walked past E block and, of course, he had to be sitting on one of the cement boundaries that were built up around the trees.

"Claire!" he exclaimed again, grabbing his books.

I watched him as he said goodbye to his group of friends, and then they started talking about me. It was obvious that the girl he'd been sitting next to was one of the love-struck ones, and she wanted me to die. She'd obviously heard the rumours, and now she was practically shooting darts at me with her eyes.

He came up so he was on the other side of me that Jazz was.

I looked over at her, and Jazz smiled at me as we passed the double doors that would take her into her next class. "I have to go. You're so lucky English isn't your first friggin' subject!"

I rolled my eyes at her. "Admit it, Jazz, you like English, you don't like Mrs. Robinson!"

She laughed at me, stopped and pulled me into a tight hug, while he lips found my ear. "Man, he is a bloody cutie! Don't be mean to him. Girls are already jealous of you!"

I laughed back at her. How could she think that I wasn't going to be a bitch to him? I actually didn't like this guy, after all.

I pushed her back, and shot her a small smile.

Ryan smiled politely at her, when she looked over her shoulder at us, and I sighed, wishing I wasn't left alone with that creep.

"So...how are you, Claire?"

I gave him a certain look. There were features about him that I hadn't picked up on the day before; his heavy cheek bones, the dark colour in his green eyes.

"What? Are you stalking me now?" I asked.

He laughed a little at me. "You'll never know, 'cause I'll never tell you."

I smiled at him. "Well I think that's the first humorous thing you've said to me the whole time I've known you, Ryan."

"Claire, why didn't you like me before?" he asked as we walked into our classroom.

"What do you mean before?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him.

His mouth opened into an 'o' and he laughed. "Ouch! Well that was a bloody slap in the face, wasn't it?!"

I dumped my bag down on the table my art work was at, and didn't look at him as I went over and took out my paintbrush and the paint I would need. "I have this deal with myself that I can't tell anyone a lie for the day."

"Was that a lie?" he asked, and I rolled my eyes, sighing at the same time.

"You need to leave. Just in case you didn't notice, the bell rang, and people are starting to go into class." I muttered, wishing that I could just get rid of him.

He brushed his blonde hair out of his face, and smiled brightly at me, leaning over my table from the other side as I sat back down. "I'm in year twelve - I get to take whichever classes I want. And I'm thinking I wanna take Art with you today, baby."

A girl who was at the table behind us heard him, and she snickered something at my back. When I looked over my shoulder at her, she gave me a filthy look and then turned back to her crappy painting, and I sighed again. "Don't call me baby again. Just in case you can't tell from snicker behind me, girls get jealous."

"Shouldn't that make you happy?" he asked me, making absolutely no sense to me at all.

"Excusing moi?" I asked, dipping the brush into the black paint.

"Well it just means that they can see that I like you. Doesn't that make you happy?" he explained, and I rolled my eyes at him again.

"Just don't call me baby." I snapped at him. "And go away. You're driving me crazy."

"I like your painting!" he called over me, totally ignoring a word I was saying anyway. "Why didn't you tell me you could do Art?"

I frowned. "I've been talking to you for less than a day! Wake up to yourself!"

He laughed at me, playing with the sharpener that was on my desk as the teacher started flipping through one of her magazines. "You know, girls are head-over-heels for me, but not you."

"Not me because I can see through your stupid games." I exclaimed. "I don't see you as any guy who could be my friend, I see you for the jerk that you really are."

He smiled at me again, and then turned his eyes on the girl behind me and winked. "See?"

He was right - she'd blushed furiously and started giggling like a little girl. I wanted to slap some sense into her.

"Claire, is your friend doing something, or is he just standing there?" Mrs G snapped at me.

I put my hands up as if in surrender to her. "Miss, he's not my friend. In fact I kind of hate him."

She gave me a filthy look, and Ryan turned around and smiled at her. "I'll do my work, Miss."

He didn't leave me alone for the rest of the lesson, and I hadn't expected him too, but I knew if he didn't leave me alone soon I was going to kick him.

He walked me out to Quil's car when the end of school was over, and as I shook off the rain that had fallen onto my jumper on the way to the car.

"Two days in a row! You guys are practically dating now!"

I hit Quil in the stomach at his sarcastic comment, and frowned slightly. "God, if I ever date him, remember to kill me."

"Don't date him." Quil said flatly. "I'm not killing you."

I laughed at him, and as his car set into a slow pace, I put my hands up to the heater. "Oh, shit, it's cold. I'm cold!"

He laughed back at me, and put one of his hands on my knee.

"Are we going back to your house?" I asked slowly, and he shook his head after giving it little thought.

"After Embry's act the other day, I don't think you'll be seeing him for a_ long_ time." he murmured.

"Come on, he wasn't that bad! And plus, I need to cook you two dinner anyway." I shot him a small smile.

"We can make dinner at your house." he replied, understanding perfectly well what I meant.

"Okay, take it this way - if I don't go and make you and Embry dinner, Embry will end up walking over here in the pouring rain, because he won't starve himself. He'll turn up anyway, and then he'll get the inside of the house all dirty. If we go to your house, let's be serious - he won't get wet, I'll cook him dinner!" I said sweetly.

He looked over at me and let out a long gush of breath. "Fine."

I shot him a small smile, and put my hand on top of his as we turned into his street.

Embry was sitting on the lounge, as if he were waiting for us. The Simpsons, one of their favourite television shows, was playing in front of him, and I wanted to kick him.

Quil and Embry were always watching The Simpsons if they were bored. It was practically all they did.

"How was your-" Embry was cut off by Quil's phone ringing, and he walked out of the room. "day, Clairey?"

"Cold." I mustered.

Quil walked into the room a couple of minutes later, shoving his phone back into his pocket with a big frown. "I have to go to the shop for a couple of minutes. I just need to grab some paperwork. Can I trust you to behave while I'm gone?" he asked, his eyes turning to look at Embry quite seriously.

Embry smiled sweetly at him. "Quil, do I ever do anything to miss-behave."

Quil said something under his breath, kissed my cheek and then left, eager to come back as soon as he possibly could.

"Cold!" I complained, snuggling under the blanket that was on the lounge more than I had been before.

Embry, sitting without a shirt and his jeans, smiled over at me. "Wanna hold my hand, Claire?"

In answer, I crawled over to him, and took the blanket with me, leaning up against his chest. "Warm!"

He laughed at me. "I can remember you when you were a baby, you know? You still use one words, like you did."

"Don't talk to me like you're my father, Em." I whispered tiredly at him. "And don't talk to me like you're my boyfriend either. Nobody's filling that boat."

"Except Quil." he muttered under his breath, and I sighed.

"Embry!"

"Let's think about this seriously, Clairey, my dear. In a couple of months- What, two you say?- You'll be sixteen. Which means you'll be legal. Which means that you and Quil can do whatever you want. You can't seriously say to me that you don't want to have a relationship with Quil?"

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Embry, I'm not making it awkward between Quil and I!"

"How do you know it would make it awkward?" he asked. "How do you know he doesn't feel the same way? I mean, you're Imprints, you're practically wired to feel that way for one-another."

I shook my head. "And what way is that, Embry?"

"You know, love, lust, happiness, tears-"

"Tears isn't an emotion, dumb-arse." I shot at him.

"I'm back!" Quil called, coming in at the exact moment.

I narrowed my eyes at Embry, and mouthed 'not a word' at him. He shot me a smile in return.

"Your Mama called, and said she was going to be late again. She wants you to sleep here tonight."

I noticed, as I fell asleep with Quil next to me that night, that I was thinking about what Embry had said, and I was taking it a lot more serious than I had been before.

Was he right? Could Quil possibly feel something more than friendship for me? Did he feel love and lust for me, or was Embry just being a dick? I couldn't possibly know at the time.

After all, I was just some stupid fifteen-year-old kid.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR:

A couple of weeks later, exactly six weeks later, to be in fact, Nessie's tone started ringing, and I looked down at my phone. "Hullo?"

"Come over...now!"

After her three words she hung up, and my stomach instantly dropped, sensing some form of trouble.

I took my jumper off the bottom of my bed, grabbed my car-keys from my bedside table, and ran down the stairs, locking the door and getting into my car in a matter of two-minutes.

Once I got to the Cullen mansion, I opened the door and ran inside, pulling the door open without even bothering to knock.

Nessie and Alice were sitting on the floor in the lounge room, a smile on their faces. "SUPRISE!"

"What?"

The worry that I'd felt before faded from my stomach, and I looked around the room, wondering if someone was going to pop out at me, or if this was all some sick joke.

"We're making your party plans!" Alice said in a high-pitched squeak.

"I thought this was actually something important!"

Alice looked at me as if I were crazy. "This is your sixteenth birthday party! Your sweet-sixteenth! The night you're going to kiss Quil! The night you're going to look so beautiful that it will be amazing! And believe me, everything will be perfect! I mean, Jasper is already down at the store, taking photos of things for me, so I could plan your dress with you."

"Alice, I don't want a party. I mean, invite a couple of people." I murmured.

She didn't laughed at me like I expected her to, instead she narrowed her eyes. "Just let me do what I do, and no one will get hurt, Claire."

"I believe that you're going to make everything perfect." I said softly, a little scared of the vampire.

"Now! To design!" she said, grabbing one of the five notepads that were all next to each other. "What were you thinking for your dress?"

"Since I've only known about it for a matter of minutes and I wasn't even planning on having a big party, so I wasn't planning on wearing a dress, I was thinking we could go down to the gown-shops, and pick something out?" I asked, blinking a couple of times while Alice watched me.

She smiled brightly. "You're so logical, Claire! Gosh, you're amazing!"

Nessie laughed, and I went to stand up, but Alice stopped me. "Where do you think you're going, young lady?"

"I thought we were going gown shopping?" I asked slowly, a little bit confused.

"Oh, no, Claire, dear. We're going to do that later, when we've planned everything! Now, we're going to figure out the colours!"

"Oh, joy." I muttered sarcastically, and Alice narrowed her eyes at me again.

"So colours?" Nessie cut in, breaking the eye contact.

Alice grabbed one of the other notepads, and turned to a certain page. "So I was thinking, that for the lo-"

"The party's going to be here?" I asked, looking at the pictures. They were amazingly vivid. Alice was a fantastic drawer.

"Of course, silly! Where else would it be?" she laughed at me, and then smiled brightly. "So, I was thinking, for the everything, white and gold. And then, going up the stairs, red rose petals going the whole way, entwined with green stems. And then, I was thinking, for the dance floor, we should have a disco ball!"

"Wait...rose petals...dance floors?" I asked, shaking my head. "Alice, I don't have the money to pay for all of this!"

She laughed softly at me again. "Of course you're not paying for this, Claire! It's you're-"

"Sixteenth birthday, yeah, I got it." I sighed, leaning back against the head board.

"So, do you wanna see what the garden's going to look like or not?" she questioned me, her hands already going to the next notepad that was in the line.

I took it out of her hands and went to the first page - it was drawings of the trees that went up the road towards their house.

The pages flicked one after the other, and each one was more amazing then the one before it.

"Alice, this is going to look beautiful!" I whispered in wonder, looking at the pictures over and over again.

She giggled girlishly. "I'm glad you like it, it didn't take me so long to complete, but I was still hoping that my first design would be your favourite. I mean, I have a couple more designs if you don't like them, but..." she trailed off, and I shook my head.

"No, this is perfect. It's beautiful."

She smiled at me again, and Nessie spoke for the first time in a couple of minutes. "So do you really like the ideas?"

I nodded my head at her, not taking my eyes off the sketches. "Yeah, they're gorgeous!"

"Is that all we needed for colours?" Nessie asked after a couple of moments of scattered conversation.

"I think so." Alice said, looking over her notes that she'd crossed off once again.

"So...?" I asked slowly, confusion taking over me again.

"Gown shopping!" Nessie squealed.

Ten minutes later we were all piled into Alice's yellow porche, and we were speeding down the highway, swapping from lane to lane to get around the slower cars, which were actually following the rules of the road.

"Alice! Don't you think you should slow down a bit?" I called to her from the back seat next to Nessie.

She laughed softly. "Don't be such a worry-wart, Claire! I'm not going to crash!"

In answer, I got my phone out of my pocket, went into contacts, and clicked on Quil's name.

_**Just incase I possibly **_

_**die right now, know **_

_**I love you.**_

_**-Claire-Bear**_

I got my answer a couple of seconds later.

_**Tell Alice that if she**_

_**hurts you while she**_

_**crashes speeding, I **_

_**will kill her. I love **_

_**you more.**_

_**-Quil**_

I smiled brightly, and Nessie, who'd been reading it from beside me, let out a soft 'awww' noise. I laughed at her, and she put her hand up to my cheek. "Is someone blushing?!"

"Shut up!" I hissed at her, and looked away from her, putting my head up to the cold glass window.

We pulled into Port Angeles a couple of minutes after we'd started driving, or so it felt like it anyway. The time always went by so quickly when I was with one of my closest friends - we were always having a good time.

With Alice and Nessie in the car, we were singing to the CD that was in the radio. Regina Spektor was on my CD, and we were listening to all of her old songs.

We went to twelve different dress stores before we found the one that had even pretty dresses, and while Nessie and Alice tried to find dresses for me as well as them, I went in and started trying on the dresses that they'd handed me.

"No!" Alice cried the first time I came out. The second time I came out, Nessie's expression said everything, and it took me a couple of times after that to find anything that I actually liked. But then Alice said if I was planning on wearing that, I wouldn't be invited to my own party. Bitch.

"Claire! Try this on!" Nessie called, throwing a dress over the top of the stall. "Alice and I both agreed on it, so now we just need to see if it works or not."

So I stripped off once again, and pulled the red dress over my head. Before I walked out, I looked at myself in the mirror - it was exactly the kind of dress I loved. It came in and fitted me perfectly around the bust and my stomach, but at the hips and puffed out.

I walked out quickly, eager to get home to see Quil, and Nessie and Alice both stood up and rushed over to me.

"Oh. My. God! Claire, you look beautiful!" Alice squealed again.

Nessie giggled. "Quil's going to be so crazy when he sees you in this!"

"Go and get dressed back into your clothes. Quil's waiting for you." Alice sighed softly.

I practically ran back to the stalls and got dressed as quickly as I could.

"Claire, hand me your dress, I'll go buy it." Alice called, and I laughed.

"No! Of course I'll buy my dress, Alice. It's my dress after all!" she called.

I grabbed my dress as I did up my jeans, and then pulled open the door, and went over to the register.

"Four hundred, please."

My eyes bugged out of my head, and I looked at the dress.

"What are you doing?" Alice asked when I shook my head at the lady, and went to put it back on the rack.

"Alice! It's four-hundred-dollars! I don't have three hundred!"

"I told you I'm paying for it!" she exclaimed.

We fought for a little while, until Nessie took the dress, and Alice held me back while she went to the register and brought it. The lady later pointed to the sign NO REFUNDS, NO MATTER THE SIRCUMSTANCE. I wanted to kill her too.

"The kiss will be perfect now!" Alice smiled.

"Wait! Alice, how did you know that Quil and I thought of kissing on my birthday?" I asked, looking at her with suspicion.

She smiled softly at me. "Because I saw it, Claire. And, oh, it's so sweet."

I blushed terribly.

"Oh, no, don't get embarrassed! You won't expect it either! He's planned it out so well!" she laughed.

"But...how did you see inside his head? I thought you couldn't see inside the wolves' heads?" I confronted her, frowning slightly.

She began to laugh with nerves. "Okay, I have something to confess."

"Which is?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

Nessie walked back to us quickly. "Quil came over and told her everything. And despite the whining about the smell, they actually made quite a plan for you, sweetie!"

When Quil came to pick me up that night, I didn't tell him that I knew about the plan, and I knew Nessie wasn't going to tell anyone as much as Alice wasn't. I thought it would be cuter if he didn't think I knew, but I'd always remember that night - the night when I found out that my best friend, my Imprint, and my soul mate was planning on kissing me for real, and he was giving it more thought than anyone else would even think of to make it a perfect first kiss for me. I loved him.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE:

**A.N;/ Hey guys! So I've made a mistake, just in case you haven't picked it up, but thank you to the reviewer who told me! I didn't even realise. So Paul's Imprint is Rachel. Sorry! ^.^ It won't happen again. Thanks for sticking with Claire this long. (: x**

"Wake up, Sleepy Head!" Mama called.

My eyes sprang open and I jumped, bumping my head up against the wall. "Crap! Wa- Mama? What are you doing home?! You're still meant to be-"

She put her finger to my lips, grabbed my hands, and pulled me t my feet. "I made us breakfast!"

"You made us breakfast?" I asked her in disbelief.

In all of the years that I'd lived alone with Mama, she had never made breakfast, because I wouldn't let her.

The one time she'd attempted to make toast, the toaster ended up catching alite. None of us really figured how she manged it.

"Well...no. Not exactally." she said softly, and I laughed at her.

"Well who then?" I asked with confusion.

Then we walked into the kitchen, and two familiar faced poped up at me.

"Morning!" Embry called, waving from where he was, consumed in a car magazine.

I laughed slightly, and walked over to Quil, wrapping my arms around his waist from behind him.

I kissed one of his shoulderblades, having to stand on my tipy-toes to do it.

He put down the saucepan and turned around, pulling me into his chest. "Missed you, bub."

"Missed you more, Quil."

As it always was, I ended up taking over on the cooking, and Embry got caught up in a conversation with Mama as Quil massaged my back and talked to me about what we were doing in the days that were coming up.

"What time is it?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at them.

"Around eleven." Embry said, looking down at his watch.

My eyes sprung open with a ridiculous amount, and Quil laughed at me. "Don't worry, Mama agreed to let you stay home from school today."

Quil and I served breakfast to Embry and Mama, and ourselves, about ten minutes after I woke up, and we'd decided that we were going to have it in the lounge-room where we could watch television at the same time we could have a conversation.

"I can't believe you're going to be sixteen in two weeks." Mama exclaimed quickly.

Embry smiled at Quil and I. "I bet Quil and Claire can't wait for her birthday."

I noticed him scrunch his face up in pain, after Quil's arms arm went up and hit Embry in the knee.

"Whys that?" Mama asked, looking over at us.

I was leaning up against Quil's chest and he was leaning up against the lounge, while Mama was sitting on one side of the lounge, and Embry was sitting on the other.

"Because we're having our first kiss on the night of my sixteenth." I said, watching her for her expression.

She smiled brightly, clapping her hands together. "Aww! That's so cute!"

Embry and Quil were looking at me like 'Is she for real?!' and I nodded. Mama had always been cool.

I got a text that second, and I grabbed my phone off the table that was in front of us.

_**Hey babe! Shopping tomorrow? You, me and Ness. Love you. xo**_

"Who was that from?" Quil asked, having read the message from beside me. I could hear a hint of jealousy in his voice, and I laughed.

"It's from Alice. Who else calls me babe, asks me to go shopping, and says that she loves me?" I asked.

"Quil." Embry said, quicker than someone could click.

"She said _she_." Mama said, looking confused.

"Quil." Embry stated again.

Mama and I let out laughs, while Quil hit Embry again, and then we taught her how to play Band Hero. It was one of the most fun afternoon I'd had with Mama in a long time.

* * *

It was a day later, and Alice had kept up to her text message.

"Good morning!" she said, walking through my front door around 12:30pm.

"Alice!" Mama rushed towards her, and wrapped her arms around Alice.

Apparently Alice got on well with everyone, but Mama had a special appreciation for her. I think she knew something was different about the Cullen family, but she didn't say anything.

She knew there was something wrong with the Pack, but that was because Quil had to tell her, when she started asking questions about why he wasn't aging.

"Hey, Rihane." Alice said, hugging her tightly.

"Where's Nessie?" I asked her, after she hugged me, also.

"She'll be here any minute. She spent the night at Jakes." Alice said, and we watched as Mama smiled.

I didn't understand how she could be so happy about all of our relationships, but she was that awesome.

"Do you want to come with us, Rihane?" Alice asked, sitting down at the table next to me.

Mama flipped her hand at us. "Oh no! I'm going to have a cleaning day."

It was wierd how excited she felt about cleaning, but she did it enough to be used to it.

I, reluctantly, only did it when I was at Quil's and Embry's house. I didn't mind them living in a house that actually looked lived in, but I know it annoyed Quil when his house was a pigsty because nobody had been babysitting Embry while we were away.

"Hello all!" Nessie said, skipping into the house without bothering to knock at the unlocked door.

* * *

Three hours later, we walked through the streets of Seattle together. Alice was carrying, literally, around ten bags, and most of them had smaller bags inside with accessories. Nessie wasn't as caught up in shopping as Alice was. I don't think anyone was. But she, herself, had around five bags. I was carrying one bag, that held a jumper that I'd really loved. It was made out of wool, and went down to half-way of my thighs, so I'd be able to wear it as a dress with stockings if I wanted to. It was a light shade of grey, and it had white and black little lines over it in different places. Both Alice and Nessie had loved it, and they'd told me that if I didn't buy it, they would. How was it possible that I could hate them and love them at the same time?

"What do you want to do?" Alice asked, smiling over at me.

"I want to get a piercing." I said, it coming out of my mouth before I even thought about it.

"We should all get one." Nessie's mouth seemed to be working without her brain too.

"I would get a belly." Alice and Nessie said at the same time.

"What would you get, Claire?" Nessie asked, looking over at me.

I thought about it for a second. "A nose piercing."

Alice squealed. "Ah! You look so beautiful with it!"

So we walked to the tattoo/piercing shop that was just down the street from where we were.

"Should we get one?" I asked unsurely, as we all turned to look at the shop.

"Why not?" Nessie asked.

We single-filed into the shop, passing an angry-looking man who was getting a tattoo with the door open as we went to the front desk.

"What can we help you with today?"

The man that was talking to us was around the age of twenty, and his arms were covered in tattoos. There was a dragon that wound its way along his whole arm, and disappeared when it came to his shirt. On his left arm, there was a picture of a tiger's face, and underneath that a tattoo of converse shoes.

His eyes traveled over all of us and came to rest on me. I wondered if he wondered why someone who was so tanned as I was, was hanging out with someone who was so pale as Alice and Nessie.

My black hair that went down to my bottom was certainly different from theirs, but I was about the same height as Alice.

"Piercings!" Alice exclaimed, clicking her high heels together.

"What? Are you expecting to get sucked up in a twister or something?" someone said grudgingly from behind her, and then the door shut that the man had been getting a tattoo in, but it didn't seem to faze Alice at all, and she kept smiling.

"Piercings." he repeated, nodding. "All three of you want piercings?"

"Yes." Nessie said, agreeing.

"Where?" he asked, looking over at me.

Alice smiled. "Me and my sister want our bellies done, and Claire, over there, wants to get her nose pierced."

He smiled at me and pulled out the book. "Okay, well we can fit you in now, if you want?"

We all piled into one room, and he looked at me. "You wanna go first?"

I sat on the bed, and watched as he brought the needle towards my nose. I didn't cringe, like most people would, and once he'd pierced me, and stuck my stud in, I stood up, smiling brightly. "Thanks."

"My name's Toby." he said slowly.

I watched him as he handed me a tissue for my leaking eyes, and I thanked him again, going to stand next to Alice as Nessie got her belly done.

"So how old are you ladies?" he asked, pulling out the needle that was going to get pushed through Nessie's stomach. I wondered how Alice wasn't getting nervous about the fact that she'd be getting one stuck through her in a couple of moments, but she stayed relaxed and we watched as Nessie stayed still. "I probably should have asked that before I started."

"Claire's sixteen." Alice lied. "I'm eighteen, and Nessie is seventeen."

"Are you all sister's or-?" he didn't finish the rest of his question, and I wondered how he could even ask it.

"Oh, no. Claire's not our biological sister." Nessie smiled at him. "And thanks, by the way."

Alice lent down on the bed that we'd all sat or lent back on, and smiled at him. "How old are you, Toby?"

"I'm twenty-three." he nodded.

"Do you like working here?" I asked, trying to make polite conversation.

He looked over at me and smiled as he got a needle. "Sometimes it's really boring, you know, you get the grumpy customers and then you get the good-looking nice ones like today."

He turned back to Alice, and Nessie nudged me, showing me she hadn't missed the fact that she'd picked up, also, that he'd been flirting with me severely.

* * *

He looked over at me, and then down to the teller. "25."

I frowned. "A normal nose piercing costs more than that!"

He laughed slightly. "Yeah, but you're the first pretty girl I've had in here today."

I laughed slightly and looked up and down his arms again. "Do you have anymore tattoos? I like your Converse one."

He nodded his head at me. "Yeah, Converse are pretty much the only shoes I wear."

"You and Claire both." Alice muttered under her breath, but loud enough for him to hear. "Looks like you guys both need a make-over."

He smiled over at me, and I took out my purse. "Are you sure, only $25?"

He nodded. "$25."

So I paid for all three of us, even after Alice had threatened to kill me for paying for her. I didn't understand that girl sometimes.

I put my purse down on the bench the cash register was on, and put my hand up to his tattoo. "Did it hurt really badly?"

"Nahh." he shook his head, pouting.

"Are you lying so the pretty girl doesn't think you're a wimp?" Nessie asked him, and he laughed.

"You'll never know."

Ten minutes later, we were all walking out of the shop.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six:

As we turned into Quil's street, where Nessie and Alice had planned on dropping me off, something in my stomach twinged. I imediately knew what it was - I'd lied, and I'd done it without even thinking that it was wrong, without even telling the truth. I'd lied to Toby about my age.

"Claire? Are you alright there, lovely? You're looking as if you just killed someone or something..." Alice asked, looking over at me, not even bothering to look back at the road.

"Alice! Keep your eyes on the road! You know it makes Claire nervous!" Nessie snapped.

"Oh! She knows I'm not going to crash! Relax, Nessie!" Alice snapped back at her.

"Eyes. Road." I murmered through my dry mouth.

"_She knows you're not going to crash_, eh?" Nessie laughed. "I think you were wrong, Alice."

"Shut up." Alice murmered, pulling into Quil's and Embry's backyard. "

"Well that isn't nice!" Nessie laughed sarcastically.

"Thanks for the ride!" I smiled, kissing Alice's cheek and then Nessies.

"Anytime, sweetie." Alice smiled, patting my arm with affection.

Surprising both of us, Nessie pushed the door open and put one of her legs out of the car.

"Young lady, _what are you doing_?" Alice asked her, looking at her as if she'd just grown a second head.

"Well I thought that it would be nice if I saw Quil's happy face when he say Cl- I'm sorry, I can't do this, Jake's inside." she murmered.

"Uh huh! Finally the truth comes out!" I laughed.

Alice looked over at me and smiled, nodding her head happily. "We knew we'd get it out of her, someway or another, didn't we, Claire?"

"Of course we did!" I laughed, winking at her.

"Shut up." Nessie spat, using the same tone as Alice had used only minutes before.

I pushed the door open and followed Nessie's lead to the front door. Nessie was moving as quickly as possible for a human, although I could tell that she wanted to use her vampire-speed. She was eager to see her man, and I was eager to see my best friend.

"Oh! And I'm all alone!" Alice called from behind us. I hardly heard her, though, as I turned the door handle and went inside. I personally didn't know why she was talking, she hated the smell of dogs, anyway, and that was what she smelt when she got anywhere near the guys from the pact.

"Claire? Oh, you still have your key...Nessie?!" Embry sat up, looking back and forth between the both of us.

We'd obviously disturbed his television show, he'd been lying on the lounge, watching a re-run of _The Simpsons_.

"My man's meant to be here, where is he?" Lily asked, eying the house suspiciously.

"He went to get Quil from a field out the back." he answered slowly. "They should both be back in a second. But, enough about them, where are my hugs?!"

Both Nessie and I held out our arms and then he walked over to us, pulling Nessie into a hug before he moved to me.

"Waahhh- Claire? May I please ask you what the hell that thing in your nose is?"

"Me, Nessie and Alice went into town and got piercings today. You like?" I asked, smiling over at him.

"_I _like it." his head was nodding slowly, as though he were trying to find out which words he'd need to use next. "But you know Quil's gonna freak out when he sees it, don't you?"

Both Nessie and I frowned and then spoke at the same time. "What do you mean?"

I spent nearly a quater of the time that I spent with Quil with Alice and Nessie, so the three of us could talk in perfect sync most of the time.

"You know Quil hates piercings! He's scared that they'll get caught in pillows or blankets or something. Claire, you've known him since you were, literally, a baby, so how do you not know that? You know everything about Quil, but you don't know a simple little thing like that?"

"He never told me!" I hissed at him, shaking my head.

"Nessie! Nessie?" Jake's voice nearly yelled through the door and I averted my eyes, looking anywhere but everywhere.

"Claire!" I could hear the excitement and happiness in his voice and he picked me up, spinning me around twice before he placed my feet firmly back on the ground.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jake kissing Nessie passionately, and he managed to make out a simple sentence between kisses. "What's - Wrong - With - You?"

I kept my eyes down on the ground, hiding my nose from them. "Nothing."

Quil's voice was interested, and he bent down, trying to get me to look at him. "Seriously."

"Nothing." I told him again.

"Claire, c'mon. What's wrong?" Quil asked, trying to get me to look up at him, once again.

"Nothing!" I said more forcefully than intended.

"Claire..." Quil trailed off and I snapped.

"She got a piercing, okay?!" Nessie snapped at him, obviously sick of hearing his voice.

"Damnit, Nessie!" I screamed at her.

"Hey, don't yell at her!" Jake snapped back at me.

"Oh, Jake and Nessie sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Embry joined in.

"Shut up, Embry!" Jake yelled at him.

Embry smiled. "Oh, Jakey wants to get in Nessie's pa-"

"IT LOOKS BEAUTIFUL!"

"Quil hates piercings and she got a nose piercing." Nessie said, and my head snapped up, looking over at her.

"Fuck Nessie!"

"Don't swear at her!"

"Oh, Jake's sticking up for her so he can get in her pants tonight!"

"Shut up Embry!"  
"Why can't I speak?"  
"IT LOOKS BEAUTIFUL!" Quil yelled, bringing our scattered screams to an end.

"Quil! In all honesty, I think it makes her look sex- You said it looks beautiful?" Embry spoke with uncertainty.

"Bloody hell, Embry! Of course she looks sexy, all though I don't like _you_ saying that." Quil said quietly, not taking his eyes off my face.

"How are you two not dating?" Jake asked, but neither of us looked away from each other.

"Mmm."

It was around fifteen minutes later and Embry, Quil, Alice, Nessie and I walked into my house.

"Oh, Rihane!" Alice, who was first, sang as she skipped in.

Mama popped her head out of the bathroom, her hair wrapped in a towel, and looked at Alice's bags.

"Oh! You did go shopping, didn't you, Alice?"

Alice nodded sweetly, and skipped towards the table. "But the three of us have a surprise for you!"

Mama sensed that she should have been alarmed and she ran out towards us. "You got tattoos, didn't you! She got a tattoo, didn't she?!"

"Of course I didn't get a tattoo!" I said, putting my bag down.

"Oh, then-" she saw it. "Oh! You got a nose piercing! Sweetie, it looks beautiful!"

I laughed slightly and put my hands around her, hugging her tightly.

"Did you two get them?" she asked, looking at both of their noses.

"No, we got other piercings." Alice said, pulling her shirt up to show her navel.

"Oh! They're stunning too, aren't they?" Mama smiled.

"We had to call in to Quil's and see him. I wanted to see his stupid face when he saw it. Apparently he hates piercings."

"Well...what do you think, Quil?" Mama asked. It was the first time that she'd noticed that he was there, although she'd been eyeing Embry, like always, when he walked in.

"Who is this?" I asked, frowning at the wall slightly.

"Oh, yeah. It's Toby...from the tattoo palor." his voice came through the phone, and it clicked suddenly.

"Oh! Toby! I get it now! Er- how did you get this number?"

"RENESME CULLEN!" I heard Quil's yell from the loungeroom.

"WHAT?!" she screamed at him.

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT YOU CAN'T LET CLAIRE WATCH _GILMORE GIRLS_ BY HERSELF? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

I know you hate piercings, although I didn't know that before I got back here, and Nessie


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN:

"But it's not the same!"

Quil was laughing at me like I was crazy because I'd chucked the new cookie-dough on the ground of my bedroom floor.

"It's made by the same people!" he laughed, shaking his head at me in disbelief. "It's just got a different package now."

My face scrunched into a frown and I pouted slightly. "I don't care! It _doesn't taste the same_."

I knew no matter how much I said it, he'd still just think I was a moron and that my brain cells were disappearing. So instead, I left the conversation alone and turned back to the movie.

"The second one just isn't as good as the first or second," I sighed as Marty McFly came on to the screen again.

The only good thing about that movie, in my personal opinion, is that Michael J Fox is so attractive in it.

Quil made a noise of agreement, and then he paused from stroking my back. Since the start of the movie, we'd been sitting in the middle of my bed, and he'd pulled my singlet up at the back and started tracing little lace patterns into my bare skin. "Why do we keep watching this movie if all we do is bitch about it, _before_ we watch it, _while_ we're watching it and _after_ we watch it?"

I smiled at the screen before I looked over at him. His eyes were big and bright and his pearly-white-teeth were pulled up into an ear splitting grin that could win an award of itself. "Because it wouldn't be a _Back To The Future_ marathon if we didn't watch the second one."

He nodded his head slowly before he turned back to the television. But my eyes didn't move from his face, because I had to tell him something.

"Quil?"

He kept his eyes on the television, as if he knew what I were going to say. "Mmm?"

I bit my lip. "You know how … You know how Embry was saying that crap the other day and you got really angry at him for it?"

He sighed and I could see the anger that pulled at his cheeks, as if the very thought of remembering it made him want to go and buy a gun so he could point it at Embry. "Yeah. What about it?"

I bit my lip. I could turn back now if I wanted to. I didn't have to go ahead with it, but I realised I _wanted_ to know what his answer was. "Do you- Do you ever think about that kind of stuff…with me?"

I saw his body stiffen and he looked at me, pointing the remote at the television and pressing the **PAUSE** button while he did it. "Claire, don't let his talk get to you! You know I don't expect anything from you and that I'm not going to push you into anything-"

It was hard to hide the frown that was trying to make its way to my face and I shook my head. "I'm not letting his talk _get to me_, I'm asking you. I know you're not going to push me into anything, I'm wondering; do you ever think of me like that?"

He looked down at the blanket that was underneath us and started picking at an invisible lint that he was pretending was on there as an excuse not to have to look at my face. "Of course I do, Claire."

My stomach clenched and my heart-rate started speeding up.

"Why, you don't think of me like that?"

I bit my lip and started picking at the black nail polish that owned my thumb nail. "You know I do, Quil."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the cheeky little grin that his mouth let spread over his face and he shook his head. "I guess we should just be glad that we only have five days until your birthday party, than."

I don't know what came over me. Whether it was boldness or just some sort of foreign confidence that I'd probably never get another whiff of. "What if I don't want to wait until my birthday party?"

I knew I'd caught him off guard when his eyes widened and his mouth formed an 'o' before he shut it again and then opened it one more time. He was confused, caught off guard and completely shocked.

When I moved slowly towards him, he seemed to come back to life and he slowly inched his lips closer to mine.

I could feel his breath on my lips when he blinked and we stopped moving forward, looking into each other's eyes.

"Claire, are you sure?" he whispered softly.

My lips pulled up into a smile and I nodded. "Yeah."

Without another word, or need for any more confirmation, he kept moving his mouth towards mine.

"CLAIRE! QUIL! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?!"

Quil literally jumped so high he fell off the side of my bed and I knew I was blushing, but I couldn't stop laughing at him.

Embry walked into my bedroom and looked at the scene sprawled out in front of him, his eyes lighting up with interest. "SO … what were you guys doing?"

The laugh that I couldn't stop only got worse, and I couldn't stop the snort that left me.

"Embry what the fuck do you want?" Quil growled.

Even though his back was turned to me, I knew he was glaring at Embry, which only caused Embry to break out into a mega grin.

"I hate to interrupt what you two were so busily doing, but Sam wants to talk to you. He turned up at the house but you weren't there so he sent me to find you."

My head turned on a tilt. "Why didn't he just come here? He should've known I was here if I wasn't at your house."

Embry's eyes widened and he bit his lip. "Actually, Claire, he was looking for Quil."

Straight away, I knew it was nothing to do with the bloody Pact. I knew it had something to do with the deal Quil and I had made about my birthday. Because if it were about the Pact, he would have just turned up to my house to talk to Quil. Instead, he was waiting for Quil to go to him.

Quil, however, didn't seem to realise that, though, since he got to his feet mumbling something under his breath.

He walked over to the bed and pulled me towards him with my feet, kissing my forehead and squeezing my hand. "I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?"

I don't know why before that I'd thought it might be awkward after our almost-kiss, but it wasn't. Not at all, and I smiled at him.

"Hurry back."

He didn't pause for a second. "Always."

Without another word, Quil turned his back on me and walked to the door where he stopped in front of Embry. The two had a short conversation that I couldn't hear from where I was on my bed.

"Take care of her," Quil sighed, not moving from his spot.

Embry looked from Quil to me and back, winking at me. "Of course! Actually, we'll just pretend that I'm you and we'll go back to doing what the two of you were doing before I rushed in here."

Quil growled again, a sound that made my stomach clench. I believe the term girls and guy used was 'turn me on' or something like that. Well the sound of Quil growling when he got angry, that was a big turn on for me.

"Touch her and I swear to God I'll rip your arm off."

We both knew he was being serious, and he looked over his shoulder at me once, shooting me a reassuring smile before he walked out.

Without thinking about it, I rushed over to my bedroom window and out onto the porch, hanging over the balcony so I could see him when he walked to his truck that was parked in my driveway like always. "QUIL!"

He turned around and looked up at me, smiling. "Yeah?"

I bit my lip and gave him that glance. That one glance that I hoped he'd understand so I didn't have to say the words to him.

He didn't pause, like I thought he would, instead he nodded. "I know. Me too."

"Claire, come on, I can only be naked for so long without something happening!"

I glared at Embry over my shoulder and waiting on the porch, watching Quil until he drove away.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT:

"Nessie, I can't force her out of the house if she doesn't want to get out of bed, yet-"

I woke up to the sound of Quil arguing on the phone in the bathroom that was attached to my bedroom, and I smiled up at the roof.

He had no idea how much I needed him in my life and he would never know. Because for me, I knew that my feelings for him were deeper than the whole 'Imprint' thing. Even though the Imprint thing meant that we were soul-mates. I was just excited I'd found mine.

"I'm not doing that to her, Nessie!" he nearly yelled into the phone. "I'll get her to come over as soon as she wakes up, until then you'll have to deal with Alice on your own. And I don't know why you can't keep doing it now, since you've been doing it for fifteen years."

I didn't bother to listen to the rest of the conversation. Instead I got up and walked out of my bedroom, padding down the hallway into my mother's bathroom.

The water took a little time to warm up, and then I washed my face, grabbing the toothbrush that I kept in her bathroom for situations just like this. On the days when I woke up and Quil was in my bathroom, I had a chance to run to mums and brush my teeth, wash my face and brush my hair.

"You're beautiful in the mornings,"

I jumped when the sound of Quil's voice drifted into the bathroom and I spat out the white froth into the sink. "You lie."

He shook his head and moved so he was standing behind me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and put his head on his shoulder while I dried my face with the towel that was on the sink next to me.

"What are we going to do today?" I asked him, ignoring myself in the mirror.

I didn't have acne, but the small pimples around my chin, forehead and on my cheeks were enough to make me self-conscious.

"Since it's your birthday, I guess I could steal you for a few hours but then you have to go to the mansion. Apparently Alice is already making Nessie want to die."

I bit my lip and put my hands over his, walking out to the hallway with him right behind me. Every now and then my back would bump against his chest and I'd smile, because every time it did I could somehow feel his heart beating.

"It's my birthday," I repeated. "That means that you have to stick to your deal. You get that, right?"

As if to convince me, he lowered his lips to my neck and kissed it up and down again and again.

I reached up and put my arm around his neck, scrunching his hair between my fingers as shivers ran down my spine.

He stopped suddenly. "I got you a present."

I let out a loud groan. "_Quil_!"

"I know you don't like them, but it's your sixteenth birthday, baby." he whispered. "That means you have to get a present!"

I rolled my eyes and charged at the air in front of me, trying to get out of his arms so I could go and hide somewhere so he wouldn't be able to give me this supposed present.

"Don't try and get away from me, I have it in my back pocket." He snorted at me, shaking his head.

I sighed and stopped struggling against him. One way or another, this wasn't going to work and I wouldn't be able to get out of getting the present. The truth was, I would have rather to go to deal with Alice then sit there and get a present from Quil.

I knew I'd love it, since I knew everything that he ever got me, even when it was just one of those little teddy-bears that you got from a lucky-dip. But I found it _extremely_ awkward to get presents from anyone, including my parents when I was a little kid.

"Fine, give me the damn present," I sighed under my breath, leaning back against him.

He shook his head again. "Nope, you have to come downstairs first."

"I thought it was in your back pocket." I murmured.

Quil sighed and picked me up with the one arm that was still wrapped around my waist, pulling me along with him as he walked down the stairs. I was literally lying on my side in the air and he was walking as if I weighed nothing. I loved his wolf skills.

"Close your eyes."

I don't know why I did it. When someone told me to close my eyes, I usually didn't believe what they were going to do and I instantly thought they were going to sabotage my life in some way or another. But something with Quil made me believe he needed me to close my eyes for some reason, so that was what I did.

"Are they closed?"

I pushed my head back so he could see my face and he asked how my neck could be so flexible without breaking. The truth was he was just scared of me hurting myself. "Yes."

He kept walking until I didn't know where in the hell in the house we were, and he sat me down on my own two feet. He then proceeded to pull me over until he pushed me back and I screamed until I felt the lounge underneath my ass.

"Can I open them yet?"

I didn't hear his footsteps so I knew he wasn't moving, but I heard the _click!_ of something and I was curious as to what it was.

"Now."

And when I opened them, I stared him at him. "Quil, what…"

"Happy birthday, baby." He repeated again.

My eyes travelled back to the lounge room table where I had a chocolate mud cake, my favourite type of cake, and three boxes.

"Quil, thank you so much." I whispered.

I knew my eyes were welling up with unshed tears and I blinked them away as he nodded towards the cake.

"Hurry up and blow your candles out before they melt all over your cake," he smiled.

Like always, Quil didn't like the attention or spot light on him so he sat down next to me, pulled his iPhone out and I heard the button that said it was on record.

So, since he'd gone to so much effort, I decided that I'd play along. And for the first time, I realised I was happy to have a birthday because he'd made it so special and it was only 10 in the morning.

Once I'd blown out every one of the sixteen candles, I pulled them out and licked the end of them while Quil sang the most perfect Happy Birthday to me.

Quil didn't sing that often, despite how beautiful his voice was.

The thing I hadn't noticed about the cake was, it said '_Happy Birthday, Claire-Bear!_' in my favourite colour of blue.

"Quil, get a picture of the cake!" I squealed when he was zooming in on my face.

He laughed and turned the phone towards the cake. "Okay, cut it."

So I grabbed the knife that was on the table next to me and Quil filmed that before he put the phone down on the table and turned it around, leaning it on the candle so that it was filming the two of us on the lounge.

"Since you touched the bottom of the cake, I do believe I get a kiss." He smiled, wrapping his arm around my neck and pulling me forward until his lips collided with my forehead.

"You shouldn't have gone to so much trouble!" I shook my head when he passed me the first present.

I knew he'd wrapped them all by himself, since it kind of looked like the whole wrapping paper was covered by sticky-tape, but I couldn't think of it being any other way. The wrapping was the same green/blue as the writing on the cake and I knew how much trouble he'd gone to.

"Oh just shut up and open your present," he pretended to snap at me and when I stuck my tongue out at him he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me further into his side.

So I tore the wrapping paper apart and squealed with delight. "THANK YOU SO MUCH!"

A big blue ceramic elephant was staring back it me, it's trunk raised to signify it was happy.

I'd always had a thing for elephants and I got one every month. "Quil I love it."

He smiled down at me and handed me the next one. It was very thing and rectangular and it didn't take a genius to figure out it was a photograph.

While I was slowly taking the paper apart this time, he explained to me where he'd gotten it and how he'd gotten it done. "I knew you loved it, so I took the picture to this local artist and she did it for me for really cheap-"

It was my gasp that cut him off.

Because in the frame in front of me was my favourite photograph of all time. The photograph from when I was little, just five or six, and Quil had me in the air, straight up, spinning me around like I was a little princess.

That day he was wearing a pair of faded jeans and a black singlet, and I had my long air in pig-tails, with yellow gumboots and a yellow raincoat even though the rain wasn't there and the sun was shining, showing it hadn't dropped once that day.

"Quil, this is beautiful.. I love it."

He pressed his forehead against the muscle in my arm and tapped the other box, the smallest little velvet box that was on the table.

I already knew what it was, because it was tradition. Every birthday, Christmas and Valentine's Day, Quil got me a charm to put on the first charm bracelet I'd ever had, that he got me on my fourth birthday.

Every now and then we had to keep going back to the jewellers to get them to add more links so that it would fit around my wrist, and it had to get 12 more in total before I didn't have to get any more.

When I flipped open the box, I welcomed the familiar sight of a wolf, it's head up, howling at what I could only assume was the moon.

When I looked back at Quil, he took the charm from its box and in a swift movement, attached it to my bracelet. "I didn't know if you'd like it, but I figured that way, if we had to be apart, we'd still be together."

My eyes searched his face. "You should have known it would mean the world to me. But if I have you in your dog form, where's the part of me that is meant to be with you."

No matter how corny people think of it, I practically melted when he took my hand and pressed it over his heart. He said four words. Four simple words that had me blushing like a tomato.

"Where it's always been."


	9. Chapter 9

"Alice, I don't think I can do this."

Alice chuckled as if she'd never heard something so ridiculous and shook her head at me. "Relax, Claire. You just have to walk down the stairs."

The thing she didn't mention on the end of it was _and not trip over_, but I knew she was thinking it, from the look on her face.

_Knock, knock, knock_.

"Nessie!" I stood up and started running over to her, practicly flying through the air.

She grinned at me like a three-year-old and her hand entwined with mine. "Ready to come down stairs?"

Alice had promised me that it wouldn't be a big thing - that she hadn't planned a spotlight or anything like that, and I couldn't do anything but keep thanking her over and over and over again, because it had taken me a long time to get her to agree to it.

"As long as you don't let go of my hand so I don't fall down and land straight on my face."

Even though the both of them laughed, I know that they were hoping on the inside that they'd be able to catch me before I fell down the full flight.

When we pulled the door open, the thumping of the music downstairs makes the walls shake and I sing along.

"'Cause when the sun sets, baby, on the avenue; I get this drunk, sex, feeling, Yeah when I'm with you-"

"Take a deep breath," Alice whispered in my ear before she skipped down the stairs, graceful as ever.

That night she was in a little black dress that complimented her pale skin and short black hair.

"CLAIRE!"

I know she's done it so everyone turns to look at us.

Stupid little-

Don't think about it, Claire, I murmured to myself as Nessie squeezed my hand and we began to descend the stairs.


	10. Chapter 10

As soon as I got on the stairs, my eyes locked with his and all of the nervousness rushed out of my body.

Nessie took a step to the side so she wasn't actually in anybodie's vision, but she was still making sure I didn't fall.

"He looks like he's never seen anything as beautiful as you." Nessie murmured in my ear.

I began to chuckle to myself, but I didn't take my eyes away from her's. "He's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

Once we got to the bottom of the stairs, he was already waiting for me.

He didn't say a word but he took my hand in his and pulled me through the crowd of people who said 'hello' yelled 'happy birthday' to my turned back.

"Quil- I-"

We'd just stopped outside when I saw it; the lights.

The threes.

The stage.

An actual stage where there was an actual band playing my favourite song.

"You look beautiful, Claire."

My stomach clenched and my heart-rate sped up as his hands placed themselves on either of my cheeks.

"I- So do you," I squeaked. "You..."

His lips were on mine before I had time to say anything else.

And it was perfect.

He was perfect.

The perfect kisser.

The perfect guy.

He put his forehead on mine. "I'm going to marry you, Claire."

And for that moment in time, I could only hope that what he said was true.


	11. The Final Chapter

He'd just moved forward to kiss me again when we heard it; the first scream.

I frowned at him, but he was already moving ahead of me, back to where the party was.

Just before we got to the door, he turned back to look at me and his eyes were full of something. Some unexplained emotion I'd never seen in his eyes before. "Stay here."

He pushed me down behind the tree to our right and before he could disappear I grabbed his hand and drew him back to me. "Quil? What's going on-"

"We have some unexplained ... guests."

That was enough to tell me; more vampires.

I don't know how he didn't smell them before they got there, since he told me he could smell them from pretty far away-

Maybe he thought it was just the remaining Cullens?

Something in his voice was enough to tell me that this wasn't going to do well and I put my hands on either side of his face, pulling his lips back to mine.

He'd gotten back to the door when I whispered out again. "Quil?"

He looked over his shoulder. "Mmm?"

"You're a really good kisser."

He smiled a genuine smile but it was quickly replaced by a straight line and then he disappeared inside.

I don't know how long I was crouched there, hiding, but there were a number of screams that followed Quil's disappearance and with every one of them, my stomach dropped even more.

Until finally, I couldn't take it any more.

When I walked into the house, the stench instantly went to my nose.

A smell that I'd gotten to know well, being friends with Wearwolves and the Cullens.

The smell of blood.

And then my eyes finally noticed what they had ignored while I was looking for Quill.

There were bodies on the ground. Lots and lots of bodies.

Bodies of people I went to school with. Bodies of people who I spent time with in my socail life. Bodies of people who I actually had some connection to.

The wolves were standing in the corner, looking around the room for them.

"CLAIRE!"

The anger in Quil's voice was masked by the breath that was being blown in my ear and I turned around before he could grab me.

"Jason?!"

It wasn't the point that he was at my party that worried me, because Alice could have well invited him without thinking about the fact that he drove me crazy.

It was the fact that his eyes were glowing red that worried me.

"Hello, Claire."

I know it wasn't the time to joke around, but I couldn't keep the sarcasm to myself.

Just before I'd turned around, I'd seen Quil try to walk towards me, but Seth had grabbed him and pulled him back and I knew it was for his protection.

Everyone knew that he wouldn't hurt me - that I was the reason he was there.

"So glad that you turned up to my party!" I smiled at him. I realised with a start that I wasn't scared. Not at all.

He growled something under his breath and turned me around so I was facing Quil, who was being held back by a vampire of his own.

He pulled me back so I was leaning against him and I frowned but didn't struggle.

Because he could have snapped my neck right than and there.

"You have such a pretty neck," he said loudly, loud enough for Quil to hear an I knew that was the idea. "But I do believe it would be prettier with a set of my teeth-marks in it-"

"DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!"

I don't know if it was the urgency in Quil's scream or the way that he was pleading and yelling at the same time, but it was enough to set him off.

I knew what was coming before I felt the sharp sting.

Before his teeth came down and pierced my neck.

And I got one last glance at Quil before I fell to the ground and the pain started.


End file.
